Conviviality and Critical Diversity Literacy, the cost of war, AI and politics
As we all embark on a new year, our journals continue to bring together diverse perspectives on some of the most pressing questions of our time, from conflict and the legacies of colonialism to the rise of populism and the impact of AI.
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Following a Convivial Thinking “Thinkshop”, hosted by the Wits Centre for Diversity, Kudzaiishe Vanyoro and Sayan Dey have curated this special issue of the International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies, Volume 7, Issue 2, on “Conviviality and Critical Diversity Literacy”. These articles collectively demonstrate the potential for combining conviviality and Critical Diversity Literacy to generate liminal yet practical perspectives on the world.
In “Non-Colonial Creative Interventions: Collective Belonging through Shared Labour, Collaboration and Active Participation” Kristina Parzen explores how a sense of collective belonging can be fostered through creative practices that prioritise Indigenous perspectives and challenge settler identities.
K. S. Anjana and Sarbani Banerjee’s article “Exemplifying Inclusivity: Unravelling Ableism and Disabled Masculinities in Cinematic Narratives” examines the films Guzaarish (India) and Me Before You (USA) through the perspectives of disability studies and gender theory, emphasising the representation of disabled male protagonists who opt for euthanasia following their transition to quadriplegia.
In “Beyond the Boundary: Deconstructing Gendered Narratives in Indian Women’s Cricket Discourse” R. Abish Jebeshy and A. Selvam investigate the disparities between genders in Indian cricket, utilising the biographical film Shabaash Mithu (2022) as a focal point for analysis. Utilising storytelling, travel accounts, inscriptions and studies of collective memory, Drishti Kalra explores the transformation of Bhāratavarṣa identity over time in “Recasting Bhāratavarṣa: Exploring the Intersection of Space, Memory, and Identity”.
Markus Hallensleben’s article “Indigenous Knowledge Sharing in Contemporary Art and Higher Education through Relational Ethics, Indigenous Ontology and Black Ecology” challenges conventional Western methods of understanding, such as mapping, collecting, and documenting, and promotes more interconnected, Indigenous, and non-colonial ways of sharing knowledge, envisioning museums and universities as open, inclusive and ethically sound environments. “Debunking Mental Health Stereotypes: Deconstructing the Complex Representation of Mental Illness and Violence in Todd Phillips’ film Joker”, P.A. Francia and Matthew Suja’s study, emphasises how the film intensifies fear and misconceptions surrounding mental health, perpetuating harmful, stigmatising narratives that fuel societal bias.
Michael Williamson’s “Mapping Ideoscapes: The Reactionary Globe in Shamsie’s Home Fire” explores Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire (2017), within the framework of global Islamophobia, militarised liberalism and the rise of ethnonationalism. Finally, in “Interpreting the Discourse: The Socio-Cultural Dynamics of Durga Puja” Bagchi Haimanti explores the connections between colonial history, caste, gender, and indigeneity, framing the festival as a space of both conviviality and exclusion.
Many of the contributions in the latest issue of Journal of Global Faultlines, Volume 12, Issue 2, engage with the realities of war and its consequences. The issue opens with the editorial “Human cost of war: Why does recording civilian casualties matter? Iraq 2003–2023 and Gaza 2023–2025”. Lily Hamourtziadou and Bulent Gokay consider the importance of recording civilian casualties, not only as a matter of evidence, but also of dignity and recognition for those affected including surviving family members.
Lucy Dibsdale explores “Beyond human judgment – the morality of machines: A critical examination of the ethical and moral dimensions of autonomous and AI weapon systems in modern warfare”. Lydia Grace Condlyffe addresses hate crimes committed as a result of current conflicts in “The Impact of wars in the East: How Ukraine and Gaza impact hate crime statistics against minority groups in the UK”.
Daniel Barrett examines how 21st-century terrorism has fuelled Islamophobia and hate crimes against Muslims, and contributed to the creation of the Muslim identity as suspicious in “The impact of terrorism on Islamophobia and racist hate crimes in Birmingham”. In “The hall of mirrors: Internal forces shaping Putin’s rationale for the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. An analysis of Russian ideology, oligarchs, and key figures influencing Putin’s decision-making” Rowan Watson argues that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was deeply intertwined with historical grievances and ideological concepts originating from interest groups, influential figures, and members of Putin’s inner circle.
In “Sidereal entrepreneurs and semi periphery: Privatization of space in Argentina” Daniel Blinder examines the geopolitics of entrepreneurship in Argentina’s private space sector, taking as a reference the cases of Satellogic and LIA Aerospace. Balint Hetenyi critically engages with controversies around the concept of extremism and counter terrorism policies in the United Kingdom in “Right-wing extremism, counter-extremism legislation, and human rights considerations in the UK”. In “How post-Soviet conservatism redefined gender in Poland” Patrycja Stasiowska identifies the links between the rise of the far-right populist movement since the collapse of communism, feminism, and social conservatism. Finally, in the insightful “Whose Peace is it Anyway? 80 Years of Attempted Peacebuilding in the United Nations”, Leon Skerritt asks, “What is peace, who is it for, and how is it made?”
In the latest issue of Prometheus, Volume 40, Issue 4, the Editor Stuart Macdonald offers another acerbic critique of large academic publishers, their submission systems and APCs in “The death and resurrection of manuscript submission systems”. In “Health and medical researchers are willing to trade their results for journal impact factors: results from a discrete choice experiment” Natalia Gonzalez Bohorquez, Sucharitha Weerasuriya, David Brain, Sameera Senanayake, Sanjeewa Kularatna and Adrian Barnett focus on how much authors in Health and Medicine are swayed by journal status in deciding where to submit their papers.
Lindie Schuld, Alex Antonites, Dawie Bornman and Muriel Serfontein-Jordaan from the University of Pretoria explore “Creating value through service innovation: an effectual design thinking framework”.
Focus is traditionally on manufacturing innovation but the authors confirm that, as with other innovation, customers and employees in the service sector are likely to be fundamental sources of the information required for innovation as well as major beneficiaries of innovation in the sector. In “Do AIs have politics? Thinking about ChatGPT through the work of Langdon Winner” Luke Fernandez speaks from a computing background and argues that the way AI is designed can shape how power is distributed in society.
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